Kagen Town Hall: The "Illegals" Are Coming!

Rep. Steve Kagen (D-WI) answering questions at town hall in Minocqua, WI, on August 19, 2009

This morning I attended Congressman Steve Kagen’s health care town hall in Minocqua, WI.  If you watch MSNBC, you’ve probably heard about Kagen’s first two town halls this summer, which were a little contentious. Since then, he’s had a few more town halls which seem to have gone better. In any case, I haven’t heard about them on Maddow or Countdown so progress, right?

Speaking of the divine Ms. Rachel, Dick Armey must still be smarting from the smackdown he got on Meet the Press last weekend. From what I could tell, most people attending were local; FreedomWorks had skipped this party. There were a few people from out of town but Minocqua is a popular tourist destination so that makes sense.

The “tone” was pretty subdued, quiet and respectful. I think this is partly due to the location. The event was held at the Campanile Center, which used to be a Catholic Church. It was kind of neat; on the quarter hour, somehow they got the bell-player-music-people to play patriotic music instead of the regular chimes. Coolio. (I can’t pull that off, can I? Shucks.)

The church (once a Catholic church, always a Catholic church) was about 75% full and rough half and half men and women, although probably a few more men than women. 90% were over 60 years old. I think I was the youngest person there. The town hall lasted for about an hour and 45 minutes and old men dominated the conversation. Only four men under 60 and five women (including me) total got to ask questions.

The great majority of the old men, except one or two, were opposed to health care reform. Strangely enough, they seemed to be more worried about the “illegals” getting free health care rather than the rising costs of health care, the millions who are uninsured or even the national debt.

One of my favorite questions/comments came from a gentleman who said “illegals” are 40% of the 47 million people without health insurance. He mistakenly believed the “illegals” would be covered under health care reform. “How can you support that?” he asked the congressman. Kagen replied, “I disagree with your numbers.” He said 2/3 of the uninsured are working families. When the man said health care reform is “going to raise our taxes,” Kagen had a very simple answer for him: “That’s not true.”

Another man said, “The government says we can’t round up all the illegals… When they come [for free care] why can’t they get picked up right then and there?”

A third attributed all the problems in our prisons, schools and health care systems to the “illegals”. A recurring theme was that if we just get rid of the ‘”illegals” problem, America would be hunky-dory. I had to laugh when I heard the guy behind me mutter, “If you deport everybody, you’ll have to pick your own tomatoes.”

Many people were upset about the “government takeover” of health care. As one guy (probably in his 30s) put it, “No matter [what you call it], it’s still socialized medicine.” Kagen tried to make the case for health care, but he wasn’t especially convincing. If I had been against health care reform, I don’t think he would have changed my mind. This may be due to his personality and demeanor. He seems to be quiet, polite and respectful, but I can’t see him doing the big stump speeches, rallying the crowds in a “Yes, we can” style.

Kagen said health care-related debt contributes to 2/3 of bankruptcies in northeastern Wisconsin, his district. A constituent disputed Kagen’s statistics. Instead, the man attributed a significant portion of bankruptcies to predatory lending by mortgage giants like AIG. Kagen’s reply? “I got my numbers from the (local) courthouse.”

(Genius. This is Wisconsin, not New Jersey. Except for Madison and Milwaukee, we all live in relatively smaller communities and most of us probably know someone who works for the state or local government. It’s much harder to say government is corrupt when it has a human face: your family, friends, neighbors, etc. So that knocked the wind out of the bankruptcy argument.)

After a particularly boneheaded rant against socialized medicine, I walked up to the front of the church, introduced myself and said,

“With Governor Doyle not running for re-election, we don’t know who the next governor will be and we don’t know what their priorities will be. We don’t know if they’ll keep funding BadgerCare and Medicaid at the current levels. So my question for you is, do you support the public option?”

And then Kagen hedged. He wouldn’t commit to the public option. Here’s the bottom line on Steve Kagen: He wants health care and health insurance reform. That doesn’t necessarily mean a public option. He repeatedly referred to a plan “whether you call it a public option or a co-op or something else”. He wants more investments in prevention. He wants medical providers to openly disclosure fees for all services.

My sense is that he wants a non-profit insurance plan that would be able to put patients’ needs ahead of profit. I don’t think Kagen really cares if it’s the public option, co-op or something like the Wyden-Bennett bill (if that had the necessary protections for patients).

I left feeling like Steve Kagen is an incredibly decent man. I briefly told my story and his eyes kind of popped out.  (I had a spinal cord injury 4 years ago and I’ve recovered for the most part). He repeatedly told people he appreciated their comments or questions, even when they were belligerent or stupid. (Those are my words, not his.) He was assertive enough to correct people when they were wrong. By my count, this was his fifth town hall this month. If today’s event was one of the “good” ones, he must really be committed to communicating with his constituents about health care. In contrast, Dave Obey has yet to schedule a single town hall.

There’s lots more to tell about the town hall but it’ll have to wait for tomorrow when I can think clearly again.